Marvel Comics Super Special
Entry updated 12 July 2021. Tagged: Comics, Publication.
US magazine-format Comic on newsprint-quality paper. Published by Marvel Comics. No editor named. Writers included Tom DeFalco, J M DeMatteis, Michael Fleischer, David Anthony Kraft, Dennis O'Neil and Marv Wolfman. Artists included Rich Buckler, Howard Chaykin, Gene Colan, Gray Morrow, Marie Severin, Walt Simonson and Al Williamson (1931-2010). 40 issues from 1977 to 1986, numbered #1-#6 and #8-#41. Publication schedule was highly irregular.
This title was a vehicle for projects which Marvel apparently felt deserved a better showcase than the standard comics format. Several of Robert E Howard Conan stories were adapted, directly in issues #2 and #9 and from their Cinema incarnations as listed below. Few Marvel characters appeared, although #10 featured Star Lord and has since become a very popular issue following the success of the film Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). The majority of issues featured adaptations of films, mostly fantasy or sf and including some James Bond films (see Ian Fleming). Among the sf films adapted were Meteor (1979) in #14, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1983) in #15, Blade Runner (1982) in #22 and 2010 (1984; vt 2010: The Year We Make Contact) in #37. Fantasy films included Dragonslayer (1981) in #20, Conan the Barbarian (1982) in #21, The Dark Crystal (1982) in #24, Conan the Destroyer (1984) in #35, Red Sonja (1985) in #38 and Labyrinth (1986) in #40. Collectors should note that #8 in 1978, the one and only Television-based issue – adapting Battlestar Galactica (1978-1979) – was published in both magazine and tabloid formats. #7 was to have been a comics version of the Beatles' musical film Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978) but was never published, reportedly owing to production delays as well as the financial failure of the movie. [GSt/DRL]
see also: Marvel Treasury Edition.
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